Alone (Bluford High) (Watty Awards 2013)

Chapter 14

"Oh, shit!" Elle whispered in a panicked and shaky tone.

  The girls felt as though all of their sight had been taken away from them and that there was no way retrieve it. They were now stuck in a tight space of darkness in which the dependence of light was no longer. They were like  children in the woods at the dead of night with no existence of the moon or the stars to guide them.
    With that, every sound seemed to heighten with an eerie intensity that would be undeniable to their ears. The steam shooting out of the puzzle-like pipes screeched like a worn out whistle during a chaotic football game. It was piercingly hot on their skin, almost like the burning sensation of leveling a hand above boiling pot on the stove.

Worst of all, the ballistic and savage noises behind them no longer seemed at a distance.

"We need to find another hiding spot or a way out of here," said Elle lowly. "'Cause whatever the fuck is coming after us is getting closer."

     Karen already had a lot on her shoulders since she awoke in the walls. For every corner, she came across another entity that was set on killing her. She didn't understand the purpose or the motive of all of this but what she did know for sure was that wondering about it wasn't going to help her, or her friend, survive the wretched ordeal.
   "Keep looking," she uttered urgently towards Elle.
"What? I can't see shit!" Elle persisted.
"No, keep looking. Focus."

     When Karen was little, she found herself alone in the house at one point. Her parents weren't home at the time and she longed for a glass of water. But the kitchen was all the way downstairs and it was pitch black all through the house. It was well past her bedtime but for her, she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep without ingesting something or else she would be thinking about it for too long and wouldn't get any good rest.
  
     She attempted to turn her light on but remembered that the light bulb had blown out. So she entered into the hallway unable to really see anything. With each step she took, she could somehow hear every bit of sound that the world had to offer inside the house and out. However, she had been able to spot out little details by adjusting her eyes to the darkness and from then on, she was able to find her way to the kitchen and turn on the light.

    Though this experience was minute and trivial compared to the current situation she was in, Karen used that little thing she'd learned on her own for her and Elle.
"Wave your hand in front of your face," she said. "Can you see it?"

"Yeah," answered Elle.

"OK..Now can you see any sort of light from the pipes or something else? A sparkle? Glistening?"

"I can kinda see the steam."

"Alright. So let's keep going straight. Follow the steam."

   Elle held onto Karen's hand as they gaited their way forward. Karen used the pair of scissors she had in her other to wave around in order to keep track of the pipes, making sure it made a faint clanking sound.
 
   Each step they took had juggled their uncertainty of temporary safety and permanent danger. Within close to a minute, the growling noises had gone away and it allowed the girls breathe a little. Then, Karen felt something hit her toes and she instantly stopped in her tracks.
"I feel something on the floor," she said shaky.

"What is it?" Elle asked.

"I don't know, I'm gonna try to feel it with my fingers. Don't let go of my hand."

   Swiftly yet slowly, Karen stooped down and coldness shot through her hand.
"It's thick," she whispered. "And it's cold....And it's wet. Slimy in a way."

"Stop touching it! Stand up!" Elle demanded, obviously frightened. As she did, Karen saw the flickering of a ball of red light in the distance.

"Did you see that?"

"Yeah," Elle replied softly.
  
    Not even a second after, the light reappeared closer towards them. Then again, but to their left. And once again to their right, much closer and almost face to face with Karen. They stood as still and stiff as a body in the morgue.

   It stayed for a couple of seconds and then faded, camouflaging with the dark. Right after, a white light appeared below Karen and it showed a pile of pumping flesh that looked as though it had just been violently torn out and thrown onto the ground.
"Oh, my God!" Elle nearly shouted.

  They looked up and before them was a pale, round dismembered face with its mouth wide open. It bared its crooked, unevenly jagged teeth and made a vociferous, deafening scream that made the girls panic immediately.

"Karen, move away from it!" Elle yelled.

"Keep holding my hand!"

   As they tried to move in a different direction, the elongated scream alerted the same animalistic noises they heard not too long ago. But with that came the sound of herd of feet hurdling from behind them aggressively.

"RUN!!!" Karen screamed.

   They found themselves jumping and running around the pipes as if they were in a track race. The only difference was that they were in a race to stay alive. Suddenly, Karen felt herself trip over a bundle of pipes and fell on the piping hot steel head first, losing Elle's grip in the process.

   In that moment, she had lost a good amount of her strength and adrenaline. She felt herself becoming light headed and dizzy. She knew that she was getting weaker by the second. Before she could succumb to this, she heard Elle scream out for her.
"Karen, get up!!! I found an elevator! Come on, hurry!"

    She looked up and saw open the doors of a chronic elevator and it was then that she regained some of her sight. It all seemed to happen in slow motion as she got up and ran towards her friend. She was about to join her in possible escape when Elle fell to the floor, screeching in immense pain.

    The face that they had encountered had bitten down onto Elle's right shoulder and pulled her down. Karen knew that Elle would eventually be ripped apart by whatever savages were pursuing them if she didn't help her.
"Get the FUCK off of her!!" She roared as she stabbed the face, deeply penetrating the blade of the scissors in its eye. It's mouthful grip loosened and Elle was now able to be let up by Karen. The horrific screams of the creature lit up the room and the pattering of feet and intense growls grew closer to them.

   Karen helped Elle into the elevator and she rapidly pushed whatever buttons she saw.
"Come on, close!"

     Fortunately, the doors slammed shut and up they went. Elle stumbled in the corner holding her now grazing wound. Blood spewed out and dripped down her back as if she was on a water slide. She winced and tears rolled down her cheeks.
  
   Karen held pressure on Elle's wound and used the bloody scissors to cut off her sleeve and wrap around Elle's shoulder.
"Keep pushing that down," she said to her. Elle was blubbering in nonsense, unable to keep her composure.
"Elle! I know it hurts like a bitch, but you need to stay with me. Let me wipe your tears."

    After wiping her face and calling her down, the shaky movement of the all too bright elevator came to a halt as the doors opened to an even brighter, white room. They stood in the in the corner looking around from what they could see.

   It wasn't a room, but rather another strange variation of the hallway that Karen was in before she found Elle. This one was more narrow and cold air whooshed through their clothes. Slowly, they walked out and tried to prepare themselves for another vicious ambush for whatever was going to come their way. Instead, they saw a tall figure in blue and red clothing down at the end of hall hanging on the wall.

"Who is that?" Elle asked weakly.

   They made a few steps closer and made a conclusion.
"Dale...."